ADR Investment Can Be
A Walk on the Wild Side

By

Michael Allen

Updated June 27, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

Thirty years ago, when Indiana accounting professor Dan Edwards placed an order to buy some shares of Sony Corp., his broker tried to talk him out of it, saying "nobody's ever heard of that company." Mr. Edwards persisted, however, and his broker made the purchase.

But right from the start, the stock was something of a trial. To begin with, it took two days for the order to go through, and once it did, Mr. Edwards couldn't...